Qantas’ domestic passengers could soon be flying a new aircraft type.
As part of its Project Winton program announced in May 2022, Qantas will see a complete overhaul of its domestic fleet. In addition to 20 Airbus A321XLR aircraft, the airline has ordered 20 Airbus A220-300s, a bigger, more comfortable aircraft with greater flexibility than the Boeing 717s it will replace.An Airbus A220 for airBaltic, one of the launch customers for the plane.
After the CSeries made its public debut at the UK’s Farnborough International Airshow in 2008, Airbus saw the aircraft as a threat and shortly after dropped the price of its A320, stymying several deals that were in the pipeline for the CSeries. Development of the CSeries had been funded largely by the governautical milesents of Quebec, Canada and the UK and Bombardier was facing financial headwinds. In 2015 the company sought a partnership with Airbus, which was declined but two years later Airbus came on board with a majority stake in Bombardier. Early in 2020 Airbus increased its stake to a 75 per cent holding. The Bombardier CS100 became the Airbus A220-100, Airbus switched from foe to friend and orders rocketed.